


together or not at all

by kyoloren



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Animals, Alternate Universe - Fairies, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Moth Kylo, Moth Rey, Mothlo, this could be a disney short it's so cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:07:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24597973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyoloren/pseuds/kyoloren
Summary: Tiny moth Rey ventures too far from Unkar Plutt's territory and is snatched up by the golden and terrifying owl Snoke, where she's thrown into a tree prison and meets a beautiful black moth named Kylo.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 28
Kudos: 91





	together or not at all

**Author's Note:**

> I've been struggling to write for two weeks now, but I got some inspiration today to write this! Based and inspired by [this piece of adorable artwork](https://twitter.com/MrsMancuspia/status/1267612459617091589), this is pure cuteness. 
> 
> I really have nothing else to say except that I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> PS. I imagine Rey's wings to look a bit like [this](https://i.imgur.com/eiC6iTM.jpg)!

She wakes up and doesn’t know where she is. Her vision blurs until she blinks enough to focus. She feels the rough bark under her pointed feet and tilts her head back to blink up at the moon, the light breaking through the sparse canopy of her tree.

_ Of course _ . Her mind clears and she remembers.

Her name is Rey. She has no flock or family, but is content to share her tree with squirrels who won’t eat her, and will fight against any birds who try to eat her. She has a sharp staff to protect herself with. 

Her staff is in her lap and she takes it in hand as she stands in the crook of the branch she chose to sleep in throughout the day. With one hand, she fluffs up the ruff around her neck and hips and spreads her wings out. They’re tawny colored, with thick golden veins and four eye-spots.

Her hair is pulled back and frames her face in spare chunks. Her feathered antennae stand tall and flicker as she looks around at her domain. 

_ Not mine _ , a little voice in the back of her head tells her. Her hands tighten on her staff and she reluctantly jumps from the branch, her wings catching air and she flutters down to the base of the tree. 

Underneath the roots lives the blind but powerful Unkar, a mole with a whole empire of goods and services. He holds territory, employs those who are too weak to survive on their own, and everyone has always accepted it.

Rey is not weak, but she has no affiliation so she has to work for him. 

He’s yelling already when she sets down softly on the grass. Two other moths are standing there, wings down, antenna shaking in fear. Rey resists the urge to stab the fat mole with her staff.

“Get out of here!” Unkar barks, his star shaped nose twitching. “Get out of my sight.”

“As if you can see,” Rey says confidently as she steps up in their place.

The mole sniffs awfully close to her and her hand grips the wooden staff painfully tight. “You’re late, girl.”

“I’m right on time.” Rey digs one pointy heel into the soft ground and glares at him.

After an inordinate amount of time, Unkar huffs and rattles off the salvage she needs to find and bring back to him. It’s more than most others were given, and she knows it’s a test. She may not be able to get it all in one go. She’ll have to make multiple trips.

Getting started right away is key. She walks off and sets into the air, fluttering in place, surveying the line of  _ subjects _ under Unkar’s thumb. She wrinkles her nose in distaste and sets off deeper into the forest.

She does not have impeccable hearing. Moths don’t really need it, and she is fast. Which is why the sudden appearance of a huge shadow startles her. She hiccups and darts toward a nearby tree as an owl swoops by. She drops her staff as she slams into the trunk and wedges herself between two layers of bark shingles. She’s a shivering mess as she hears the scream of a mouse and then the predator is gone.

It was never after her--she tells herself this so she can pluck up courage--but she stays hidden for longer than necessary before she ventures out. The darkness feels heavier now.

_ Stupid, stupid _ , she chides herself as she swoops down to start collecting for Unkar. She searches for seeds, pries acorns from underbrush, plucks berries, and cuts her delicate hands on thorns he needs to supply his sentries with.

She has made a little satchel with a folded leaf and bit of flexible fiber, but she still has to hold it in both her arms as she flies. The moon has moved in the sky and she’s far from home, still looking for the last of her salvage for Unkar.

Rey realizes too late that she’s ventured far from Unkar’s protected territory when she hears the screech of another owl and once again tries to hide.

This time she isn’t so lucky. The owl--a big, ruffled one whose coat of feathers gleam like gold in the moonlight--snatches her up in one claw. Most of her salvage tumbles from her satchel and she curses the loss of the thorns that could help set her free.

Heart hammering, she grips the sharp talons and yells, “Let me go, let me go!”

The owl laughs, a sound that chills her right to the bone, and a moment later, Rey is tossed through the air. She yells and tumbles into a tree hollow, landing painfully on one wing and rolling head-over-feet. Dust clouds her senses as she lies on her back, staring up into the darkness.

She doesn’t realize she’s crying until a tiny sob echoes in the hollow. She sniffs and rubs her face, climbing onto her hands and knees. She flexes out her wings. One is sore, but it’s not ripped or damaged. The tree opening is wide and unguarded, but she knows that if she tries to leave, the owl will grab her again--or worse,  _ eat her _ .

Rey peers out, fuzzy antenna sticking up, but jumps back at a sound from behind her. She whirls around, reaching for a spear that isn’t there.

“I would come back from there,” the voice says. 

It’s very dark in the tree, but her eyes have adjusted well enough. She can see a shape melting out of the shadows. It’s not much bigger than she is. “What is this place?” she asks, her voice strong.

“It’s a prison.”

The figure steps out closer and her eyes widen. He’s a moth like her, though his coloring is the opposite: dark with thick ruff around his neck and shoulders, a trail of it joining with the ruff around his hips. His wings are down, black with touches of red. His skin is almost gray. She’s never seen a moth that looks like him before.

“You’re hurt,” is the first thing she says. Her eyes catch on the blood on his face, a large wound across the right side of his face looks fresh. She steps forward and he backs up. She stops.

“What are you doing?” he snaps.

“Helping,” she offers. She still has her satchel with a few berries in it. One of them she knows is good for wounds. She lifts it, one of the smallest of the berries that grew in Unkar’s territory, and shows it to him. “I can help.”

He looks at her through narrowed eyes but finally he nods. She gives him a tentative smile and sets aside her satchel, breaking the berry in her hands. Up close, he’s taller than she is and she can see how thick the hair on his head is, and the feathered red antenna twitching nervously.

“Are you a prisoner?” she asks as she raises her hand coated in the berry’s juices. 

He flinches back but then holds still as she rubs the warm substance over the wound, reddening his skin.

“I wasn’t always,” he says, his eyes on her as she works with determination.

“Do you know that owl?” Rey holds her breath as she rubs on the last of the wound just above his eye.

His eyes harden and Rey steps back. “His name is Snoke. I used to work for him.”

Rey thinks about Unkar. At least the mole was slow. His paws could cut through her wings, but he could never touch her. “Why?” she whispers.

“I didn’t have a choice. It was either that or I die.”

The berry was as good for eating as it was for wounds. Rey holds one half out to him. “To eat,” she prods. He takes it and settles down on his haunches. Rey sits in front of him. “I work for someone, too.”

“I tried leaving but he gave me this and threw me in here,” he finishes explaining.

Rey frowns. “Can’t you escape when he’s asleep during the day?” She is a prisoner now too; she doesn’t want to die here. No one will come looking for her.

“No.” He shook his head. “Snoke has cardinals who keep watch under the sun.”

Rey bites into her fruit and chews, mulling over the fact. She is resourceful, a survivor. “We’ll get out of here,” she says to herself.

“Will we?” He heard her.

Her eyes snap to his. They’re as dark as the rest of him. “I’m Rey.”

He hesitates. “Kylo,” he settles on finally.

She doesn’t know if that is his real name, but at least she can now call him  _ something _ .

“No one escapes from Snoke’s clutches,” Kylo tells her once they’ve finished off their meager meal.

Rey’s lips are stained red. So are Kylo’s for that matter. She licks them and stares at the opening in the tree. “I will.”

Rey searches the cavern until the sun comes up. At least with a guard regiment, it means she can get some rest. She doesn’t have to fight off birds trying to eat her as she’s trying to sleep. She mentions it to Kylo as she finds a place to lay down.

He looks at her strangely. “Normally someone wouldn’t find something good out of being caught and put into a prison.”

Rey lays down on a small pile of the remnants of last fall’s leaves, crushed nearly to dust. “I’m a peculiar kind of moth.” She folds her wings over her for protection and tucks her hands under her head. She noticed earlier that Kylo doesn’t have wrist fluff like she does, his arms were bare to his fingertips.

“I’ll figure something out,” she says a few minutes later, eyes closed. “I always do.”

**

Rey wakes suddenly and she would have yelled, if it wasn’t for the hand over her mouth. She blinks into the darkness and sees Kylo crouching by her, a finger to his mouth. She nods and he steps back. Rey scrabbles to her feet, watching as he creeps toward the opening. She smooths down her fluffy ruffs as she walks over, peering over the edge with him.

Outside sounds like a warzone. It’s dusk and Rey can hear the screeches of multiple birds. Her heart hammers with panic and she reaches out, finding one of Kylo’s hands and latches on. He freezes next to her but she doesn’t let go as she watches bright flashy cardinals fighting a small army of sparrows, finches and warblers.

“This is our chance,” Rey whispers out, anticipation flooding through her. She’s scared, but she won’t pass up this chance to save herself. She stands up to her full height. The birds are all too distracted to notice.

“I can’t,” Kylo says.

Rey turns to him, squeezing his hand. It’s warm and fits perfectly with hers. She’s flooding with a sense of belonging for the first time in her short life. “Why not? Are you afraid of the birds? I’m afraid too.”

He shakes his head. “I can’t. I should stay here. I deserve it.”

“What?” She frowns up at him. “No you don’t. No one deserves to be imprisoned. No one deserves to be hurt.” She reaches up and touches his face with her free hand. “You’re not alone anymore. We can go together.”

He is about to say no, she can feel it. A loud screech of an owl makes him close his eyes and tremble. Rey steps forward tentatively and touches the soft ruff at his shoulder, weaving her fingers in and gently stroking.

“I’ll help you,” she tells him.

The battle sounds get louder. Kylo opens his eyes and she sees resolve behind them. She smiles at him gently and they stand side by side.

“Snoke has sharp eyes,” Kylo murmurs to her.

Rey nods. “We’ll crawl around the trunk and leave close to the ground.”

He squeezes her hand and she takes it as acceptance of the plan. 

Rey doesn’t know how Kylo’s life was before now, but he follows dutifully as she sneaks out, using her pointed toes and nimble fingers to quickly crawl along the bark, around to the other side of the tree. The air is filled with screeches and feathers and she just wants to get away.

Once on the other side, she lets herself glide down to the ground, staying as close to the tree as possible. Kylo follows and she sees his wings spread fully for the first time as she waits for him on the soft underbrush.

“Beautiful,” she whispers out as he lands next to her. Her eyes are wide.

“What?”

“You...your wings,” she blushes a little bit. “Beautiful.”

He turns a little red too, which only compliments his coloring. “Let’s go,” he tells her.

She nods fiercely and they fly close to the ground until they’re far enough away and then they keep going. Neither one of them is really leading, but eventually Rey needs to stop. Her wing is still sore from the previous night.

They decide hiding in a small cavern beneath some tree roots is smarter than high in a tree. If Snoke is after Kylo, he may not think to look at the ground.

The night is coming alive around them, but luckily nothing seems to live in the dark loamy space. Rey folds her wings and startles when Kylo touches one of them.

“Sorry,” he mutters, and she grabs his hand before he moves away from her. He looks at her, unsure and overwhelmed.

“It hurts a little, is all,” she tells him and pulls him down next to her. He touches her wing again and she lets him, shivering.

“Where?” he asks.

It takes a moment for her to respond. She isn’t used to being touched so kindly and there is something about him…

“Here,” she says, twisting a little so he can see where the wing attaches to her body. She can smell his skin, the dark forest smells of lush greenery and danger, as he leans closer and gently runs his fingers over her tan skin, massaging the tense muscle.

She sighs and notices just how close he is to her. He’s looking over her shoulder at her wing and Rey catches her breath. The tiny sound makes him move marginally and before she can think, she leans up and presses her lips against his for a moment.

He freezes and she jerks back, but then she sees his face. His eyes are swimming and his hand falls still against her back. Rey blinks before she can start crying too, digging her hands into the fluffy ruff at his shoulders and burying her face into the softness under his chin.

He smells magical, and the fur soaks up her tears.

She doesn’t know why he’s crying or why she’s crying, but it happens. He wraps both arms around her and nuzzles her hair, careful of her sensitive antenna, and they stay that way for a long while.

Eventually, as the moon crested high and the light reached them all the way down there, they let go of each other. Kylo kisses her this time, softly, and Rey hums against his lips.

_ Happy _ , she thought.  _ Is this what being happy feels like _ ?

“We should try to move further away,” he tells her, rubbing her back. “Can you fly?”

“I can fly,” she says shortly, not wanting to show any weakness.

Kylo runs his fingers over the back of her hand and then stands. “We’ll go a bit more until we’re out of his territory and then rest.”

It is a solid plan. They stay low to the ground for most of it and when Kylo deems it safe, they stop. They find another place to sleep close to the ground and fall asleep with their arms and wings around each other.

The forest floor is louder than the treetops and they don’t get much sleep once the forest begins to wake up. The sun is big and bright and Rey has to shake Kylo awake for a long time before he’ll get up.

“Where will we go?” she asks him as they feast on more berries her deft hands had found nearby.

He thinks about it for a long time. “Anywhere we want. There is nothing keeping me here.”

Rey thinks about Unkar and wrinkles her nose. “Nor me. I don’t have a family.”

“I had one but they’re gone now.” There’s pain in his voice and his eyes and Rey reaches for him, intertwining their sticky fingers.

“We can be each other’s family,” she whispers, almost scared to say the words aloud.

Kylo looks at her seriously and a smile slowly makes its way onto his face. “We can,” he agrees with her, squeezing her hand.

In her excitement, Rey’s face splits into a grin and she tackles him, hugging him close even as it pins his wings under him. Kylo doesn’t care, hugging her in return and kissing her face, sweet and sticky.

The hurried arrival of a hare running in their direction shakes their antenna and they let go of each other to fly into the sky to safety. Rey grins at him again and he smiles in return. She takes his hand and picks a random direction.

“How about there?”

Kylo stays at her side even as their wingtips touch. “Yes,” he says with confidence. “I will follow you anywhere.”

Rey chuckles and blushes. “We’ll go together. Always.”

“And we’ll never be alone,” he finishes for her.

With hands clasped and a whole world spread out before them, Rey and Kylo set forward in flight toward a future of belonging that they’d been seeking their whole entire lives.

**Author's Note:**

> The ending is SO CHEESY I'm sorry. 
> 
> Follow me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/hunkbuster) if you'd like! I basically never shut up about Reylo.


End file.
